Saturday, September 17, 2011

Fisking Tom Perry (part I)

As one of the most deeply dishonest and propagandistic of Reuters many dishonest and propagandistic correspondents, Tom Perry's stories feature prominently in our site commentary.

In a nearly 1,800-word appeal to pity (Reuters stories typically average about 400 words) on the efforts of the Palestinian Arabs to eradicate Israel obtain their own state, Perry masterfully weaves propaganda, lies, half-truths, and distortions into every paragraph. Indeed, there are so many journalistic and ethical failures in Perry's piece, our fisking of his story will absorb three posts here at RMEW.

"[Palestinians] squeezed by the rule of Israeli occupation" [in the territories].

Jews are in the territories by right in international law, as resolved by the League of Nations nearly a century ago and adopted by the United Nations 25 years later. There is no “occupation”.

"[Israel has] demolished the [Palestinian] encampments since 1997, typically on the grounds they were put up without permission".

Yes, just as Jewish settlements not approved by the Israeli government have been demolished, as in Migron just last week.

"Demolitions are just one of the problems that Palestinians living under Israeli control in the West Bank have to deal with”.

Perry employs the propaganda mantra "West Bank" to identify the disputed territories, an Arab-ethnocentric term invented following expulsion of the entire Jewish population from the area in 1949. The land is known as Judea and Samaria by the Jews, who lived there for thousands of years before being ethnically cleansed by the invading Arabs.

“The expansion of Jewish settlements has eaten up land”.

And of the 78% of the original Mandate of Palestine, set aside for a Jewish national home yet "eaten up" by a Palestinian-majority state known as Jordan, Perry is curiously silent.

“Palestinians, along with their property, are increasingly the target of settler violence”.

Shall we compare the violence of graffiti spray-painted onto a Palestinian mosque with the violence of a Jewish infant butchered in his sleep by Palestinians?

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RMEW* exposes errors, bias, and propaganda in Reuters Middle East Reporting. It is not a "blog" as such but rather an open, public, evidentiary database documenting Reuters' violations of its own Trust Principles, Handbook, and generally accepted standards of professional journalism.

Reuters Fauxtography Faux Pas

Original photo of Gaza flotilla passenger with knife and pool of blood next to injured Israeli marines (as composed by Turkish IHH photographer)

Cropped version of same photo (as published by Reuters)

Reversal of Reality

"International criticism has also focused on a blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza, where conditions have gone from bad to much worse." -- Reuters reporter Tom Perry

Failure to Fact-Check

"The decline in infant mortality [in Gaza], which has occurred steadily over recent decades, has stalled in the last few years." -- Reuters quoting Max Gaylard, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Palestinian territories

Parroting Racist Propaganda

"Palestinians widely believe Israel aims to 'Judaise' the city [Jerusalem], pushing out Arabs and expanding the Jewish population and construction." -- Reuters reporter Tom Perry

Inanimate objects take on a life of their own

"In Sunday's incident [Israeli] police fired tear gas and stun grenades at hundreds of Palestinians who had gathered in anticipation of such a move by groups associated with Jewish settlers in the West Bank. Stones, chairs and other objects hit police." -- (former) Reuters Bureau Chief Alastair Macdonald

Reuters Fauxtography Faux Pas

This Reuters photograph shows blatant evidence of manipulation. Notice the repeating patterns in the smoke; this is almost certainly caused by using the Photoshop "clone" tool to add more smoke to the image -- Little Green Footballs